Caitlyn Whyte (Host): Hello, and welcome back to another captivating episode of In Their Words, the podcast brought to you by the UPMC Pinnacle Foundation and UPMC in Central Pennsylvania. I'm your host, Caitlin Whyte. And we're thrilled to have you join us for today's special conversation. In this episode, we have the honor of speaking with someone whose life is deeply intertwined with the heartbeat of UPMC. Not only is he a crucial part of the team, as the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Safety Officer, but he's also a grateful patient, ready to share a heartfelt story of health scares and gratitude. Now prepare to be moved, as we explore a journey that transcends the professional and the personal. This is In Their Words.

Walter Roth: Okay, my name is Walter Roth. I'm the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Safety Officer for UPMC. I've worked in health care for over 35 years. I guess this whole thing started last January. Walking from my car to my office, I began to get winded and had to stop and catch my breath. And it just didn't seem right.

I was a smoker. I smoked cigars for many, many years. I thought, oh, it's the cigars. So, I cut back on them to one or two an evening, and thought that would make it all better, and that didn't make it better. And it just kind of got worse. So, in April, I went and saw my PCP, my Primary Care Physician, and I said, Dr. Matthews, I said, I'm really getting winded here. This isn't normal. I cut back on the smoking. I'm trying to get a little exercise and it's still it's getting tough. She said, you need to go see a cardiologist and see what's up with that. So I went and made an appointment to see Dr. Evans whose office is right across the street from the hospital.

I got in to see him. And they went through the standard 12-lead EKG for all patients. And, the girl did it, took the paper out to him, the results, and within a few minutes he came in and he had a look on his face. And kept asking me if I had chest pain, difficulty breathing, or anything like that.

And I said, no doc, I got no symptoms except getting short of breath. And he said, I need you to get an echocardiogram and some other tests done and possibly a cath, a cardiac cath. I said, okay, and he kept asking me if I had chest pain or anything. So, you know, that made me think uh, I was a paramedic for many years and I know the signs of a heart attack.

And I don't feel that I had any of those, but I think what was on the inside by what he saw was a little bit different. So the next morning, he called the hospital and got me in the next morning. I went and I had my echo. And I've been around this for a while. You can tell facial, people's facial expressions when they see something that isn't right. And I kind of saw that from the echo tech that something wasn't right. And within a few, she's, she stepped out of the room. Gave the results to the I guess it was a physician's assistant and he said, listen, you need a cardiac cath and you need it now. I said, okay. So they had me admitted and within minutes of me getting in the room and getting in a hospital gown on the second floor, the cath lab team was up there and took me down got me prepped I was only on the cath lab table two, three minutes and Dr. Evans said, listen, there's, I can't get these open. You're going to need bypass surgery.

And at that point it kind of hit home. My father had had several heart attacks. He had bypass, several cardiac caths and he passed away at 49. And I just had an uneasy feeling. So anyway, from that point, I mean, and everybody, it just, you know, I know the people because I work here at Lititz, but they were so kind, I've never had anything like this.

You know, I've been to the ER for stitches and things like that. So it was stressful and shocking, but the kindness, it was amazing. So they took me back to the room and they set up an appointment in Harrisburg with the cardiac surgeons. It was like two or three weeks out and I started thinking that if I have a bad day and I'm up there, that's 40 miles.

We live a few miles from the hospital here in Mannheim. I don't want my wife and my kids having to drive that distance if something goes sideways. So I know that there's a hospital here in town, Penn, and I know they have an open heart program. And I asked around, I know a lot of people that work around there, and I was, you know, thought well, would it be cost effective, would it be good, it's a few miles from our house if something doesnt go right. And then I talked to ... Dr. Bledsoe. He's a Director of the Emergency Department or something like that. He also works for the state, but he's a UPMC person. And he was telling me about the program in Harrisburg and how it's a three star program and that they take people who other people turn away and have positive results.

And I thought, yeah, that's where I want to go. So I met with Dr. Melton. My wife and I drove up there. He had the films from my cardiac cath. He was looking at them and he explained to me what was blocked and where they were and everything. And he was very, very, very nice. You know, I've met a lot of open heart guys.

I worked at Lancaster Regional. We had an open heart program and they tend to be uh, stuffy. I use that word. And Dr. Melton was down to earth. He, right away when I met the man, my comfort level was perfect. I just felt, okay, if somebody's going to go inside me, this is the guy. He's my kind of a guy.

Shook my hand. Most cardiothoracic people and surgeons don't do that kind of thing. So anyway, so he looks at the film and explains to me what's going on. He said, Walter, I'll be honest. He said, I don't know that there's enough that I can do a bypass on. I said, okay, so what's the alternative?

And he said, we'll manage your condition with meds. But he said, listen, he said, every... I think it's Wednesdays, and I saw him on a Thursday, every Wednesday, all the cardiac doctors in Central PA get together on a call and they discuss cases. He said, and I'd like to bring your case to them to see if anybody has any ideas or thoughts on making this work for you.

I said, great, please do. My wife and I went home and, uh, the following week I got a call from his office saying, listen, we're going to set you up for bypass surgery. We can do this. He called me and he said, listen, I can do two of them. I had I believe it was four veins or arteries that were blocked.

But he said, I can do the two big ones. There's enough there. I said, great. That was in May. So, June 23rd I went for my bypass, but between that time and my bypass, multiple people from the cardiovascular program reached out to me saying, asking if I had questions, answering my questions very nice, explained things in a way that I could understand, you know, and I had blood work and x-rays and all that kind of magic and voodoo.

But they were just so nice. I was just amazed and impressed. So, I got the final orders two days before my bypass. Had to be there at 5:30 in the morning. I'm not a morning person. But, we went up and my wife and daughter drove up. They got a hotel room across the street. The hospital offers a discount, which is awesome.

They were going to stay for a couple of days. I went in. I registered. And from the time I registered till I walked out of that place, there was nothing but kindness and compassion. And no, I don't believe until a couple days of me being in there that anybody knew I was an employee. And that jacked things up for me in a good way, because it made me feel really good that we treat the public the way I was treated.

So they took me back into one of the rooms in the pre-op area, and this nurse came in, started an IV. Very calming. Because I was getting very, very nervous. I had even thought, what if I change my mind right now? What happens? Well, I'm sure my wife would have divorced me. But I knew I needed to have this done.

So, they started the IV, and this older gentleman came in, and you, I could hear his voice throughout the entire area, laughing and joking with people, and he did my prep, shaving me and everything. Funny, beyond belief, and I really wish I could remember names, I'm so sorry that I can't. But I think anybody that works in that area would know him.

Just kidding around, putting me at ease. He was awesome. He lowered my stress level. So then the surgeon came in, Dr. Melton came in to see me, his physician's assistant came in, the anesthesia folks, and everybody was so nice. And they would not leave until they asked me if I had questions.

And then double checked, Walter, are you sure there's no questions? Do you have any concerns? It was amazing. Then the next thing I know, they're wheeling me back, and I've never in my life had any surgery or anything like that. Like I said, stitches in an ER, and they take me back, they're moving me to the table, and I thought to myself, I've been in ORs a million times in my career, as a, as the safety officer, we do safety tours throughout the hospital. One of the places we check is every OR. But I was always standing up. I've never been on my back on a table. And they put me to sleep. And then the next thing I know is I'm in uh, ICU I guess it was, I guess that's what they call that unit with a breathing tube.

And I had a big fear of being tubed. I don't know what it is. But being on a ventilator or anything like that, that was, I think, my biggest fear throughout the whole thing. And the nurses were so kind. I kept wanting to pull it out and I knew I couldn't. And then I was coughing and they were right there by my side, with kind words, calming words.

It'll you need to do a little bit more and then we'll get you off of this. It was a great relief a little bit later in the day. They took the tube out and I could talk. But the staff was just awesome, coming in and checking and making sure and even little stuff, you know, it just, the kindness, I didn't know what to expect.

I didn't know what to expect after that. What was my life going to be like, was I going to be able to walk and move around and have the energy. I was just worried, you know, I'm 60 years old, I have seven kids, I have seven grandkids. I have a little woodworking business on the side, and I just wanted to be able to enjoy those things and do those things.

And I just didn't know. My trust, my trust was 110 percent to everybody in that hospital. Because I knew if anybody could do it, they could do it. So after uh, I guess it was like the next day they started talking, well, we're going to get you up and walk. And I'm thinking to myself, and I know this, but it's a lot different when you're on that side of it.

You know, you just, tore my chest open and you want me to get up and walk? But I figured they know this. This is their voodoo. This is their thing. So, I did everything they asked of me, constantly asking about pain and that, was one of the things that, I expected to have massive pain in my chest because of having this surgery and I didn't.

But they were always checking. Do you have pain? We can give you something. So after a couple of days there, I went to a step down unit and that's when the folks from physical therapy and occupational therapy really pushed me to get up and walk. The nurses pushed that.

Chest tubes, that was a bad thing. I was glad when they got out. But there was, like, there was nurse practitioners every day that came in. There was one that worked nights and one that worked days. And just asking and checking and I have diabetes, checking my sugars. They were just so kind.

And even the housekeepers, when they would come in, would ask questions and we'd chat a little bit. The nurses, the patient care techs, they were all awesome. Some things went sideways during this. After... I got feeling, you know, and moving around, I had a real bad pain in my left shoulder.

And my left hand was a little bit numb. And the staff assured me that that was probably positional. The way that I was laying on the table you know, that some patients have this and, and it'll pass. It'll take a little bit, so I was okay with that. But two days after my surgery, in the middle of the night I woke up and I thought, wow, things, I can't see right, something's not right here.

And I thought, well, you know, I'm just dry, dehydrated. My, my eyes are all pasted shut or something like that. And I couldn't see right. And I thought, well, I'm just going to lay here a little bit and rub my eyes and, you know, it'll get better. About a half hour later, it still hadn't gotten better, and I thought, holy crap, I can't see out of my right eye.

Well, I called the nurse, the nurse came in, and it was within, and I told her, within seconds, my room filled up with a million people. It wasn't a million, but... there was all kinds of people checking me out and looking at my eye and blood pressure and all this other stuff. They sent me downstairs for a CAT scan and then I had an MRI the next morning.

And it turned out at the end of the story, there's a blood clot that hit my retina and uh, it just took my eye out. I can't see out of it. But... I mean, I knew that going in. I knew going in that there's possibilities of, of all kinds of things happening, and I was okay with the risk and I'm still okay with it.

It's nobody's fault or anything like that. So, after a couple of days, I was like, on the seventh day, they cut me loose. Which was nice. I have a four year old German Shepherd, Molly. And she's my partner in crime. She's my bestie. And I really wanted to get home to see her. And that was just exciting. It was funny, the trip home, my wife had pillows in the car. She was ready for anything. My wife's a nurse. She's been a nurse for 36 years. My daughter's also a nurse and she works here at Lititz in the OR. So I was well taken care of on the way home and after the fact by them. I'm very blessed to have both of them. So I went home and followed up with everybody. I went and saw an eye specialist and he confirmed everything with the eye. A couple of weeks after, my chest started leaking. The incision opened up a little bit and it kind of freaked me out.

So I went back up to Harrisburg to the cardiovascular folks and they, they looked at it and they said, you know, your body we don't think it likes the internal stitches. So that became a two month ordeal of wound vacs and dressing changes. Finally last Saturday was the first time in two months that I was able to take a shower with nothing taped to my chest.

So that's all healed up now. So that's really good. All trips up there during this, I am not a fan of wound vacs, Angie, the nurse practitioner, and Katie, the wound nurse that they have were advocates on my behalf. People were suggesting things and they're like, well, you know, maybe we can do this, we can do that. Like I said at the beginning, everybody up there was so kind, so caring, them not knowing that I was an employee because whether it's right or wrong, we tend to take care of our own but the kindness, the compassion, just the kind words, you know, when you're having a bad day can help a lot.

And if we're treating people from the public like that, we have the best program. It's hard to explain how it feels to be on the other end of it. And just those kind words can make a great difference. It truly can. And I would recommend this program. I would scream it from the mountaintops to go there to have any type of cardio thoracic, anything like that, valves, whatever. I occasionally have seen conversations on social media with friends, you know, my mom needs to have bypass or needs to have a valve replaced, and I'll jump in both feet and say, listen, you need to at least talk to these people. If I know insurance is a big factor in where people go for their health care, but I'm telling you, if you could go there, that is the place to go. I have nothing bad to say. Absolutely nothing.

Host: Walter's story has been nothing short of profound. Through the twists and turns, he's faced more than his share of challenges. When asked how it felt to arrive at home, he was overwhelmed by a heartfelt reunion with not only his wonderful family, but with his loyal dog Molly.

Walter Roth: Oh, it was awesome. She jumped up and then my wife freaked out. It was just, we hang out all the time. We hang out at night and it's just, it was very relieving and made me really happy.

I have seven kids. They range in ages from 20 to 38. All of my daughters work in healthcare, and my son, my oldest daughter works in a surgical practice. My next daughter is Lindsey who works here in the OR. Morgan works at a pediatric practice. My, my son works as an electrician. He's a licensed electrician. My other two sons just graduated from college and are working, or are looking for their path. And then my other son, Ben just started here in the hospital security. When I started... 35 years ago, 37, whatever, 84, I started out as an orderly at a Catholic hospital. And they don't have orderlies anymore, obviously.

Then I moved to security, then I moved to emergency management. But my kids are awesome. There's never a dull moment. There's never been a dull moment in the last 38 years of my life. We try very much, they all live locally, which is, I'm very blessed for that in Lancaster County, so, we try very hard. Holidays are a big thing, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, anytime we have a chance, even if it's just two or three of them. I live for that, and then I really live when everybody's at our house, cause it's family is very important to me.

My wife's been a nurse for almost 40 years. She works at Penn Medicine in geriatrics, but she's worked at different disciplines within their system. There's absolutely no way that I could have done this without her. She is the biggest patient advocate, her patients and for me, she'll come home and tell me, you know, this patient couldn't get their meds. And I called this place and that place. She told me that I need to stand up for myself. I need to ask the questions. I need to get the answers and I did.

 When they were all younger, it was like seven different piles around the tree. But now that they're older, it's like gift card uh, this, that. You know, it's not that big. But I'll tell you what, there would be trash bags full of wrapping paper.

Host: One questioned about the deep healthcare legacy within his family, Walter reflected with a sense of pride and gratitude.

Walter Roth: I think it's amazing. My mom was an OB nurse for many, many, many, many years. And she's the one when I really didn't know what I wanted to do. She said, ah, go, you know, you should get a job at the hospital as an orderly. They had an opening and I thought, well it pays pretty good. And I went up, but from there on it's, I don't know, it's kind of a family thing. And at one point at that hospital, it was St. Joseph's Hospital, Lancaster, which became Lancaster Regional Medical Center, which was then acquired by Pinnacle and then UPMC; I worked there, my mom worked there, two of my sisters worked there in the kitchen, and my little brother worked in the storeroom. And then they went their own ways, and I stayed, and then my mom retired, and I'm still here till they kick me out.

You have to be a special kind of person, I think, to work in health care. Especially if you're working with patients or people. And I think my daughters and my wife are very compassionate, very patient. I think my wife taught them that because my patience sometimes isn't that good. But I think they've learned from their mother, you know, that people having a bad day need somebody to hold their hand.

And even if the results of the bad day aren't what you want or what you expect, you just need someone there to help you get through it. And I think that's the way they are. I know my wife is like that.

Host: Interestingly enough, Walter's role is all about preparing for the unexpected. As the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Safety Officer, he navigates the intricate dance of readiness and sharing that UPMC is equipped to handle the unforeseen with precision and care. It's a unique perspective. One that as we'll discover takes on a whole new meaning when the unexpected hits close to home.

Walter Roth: My job is to make sure we're prepared for bad days. Something bad outside, like a disaster, a snowstorm, a pandemic; making sure that we can keep our doors open and continue to serve the community. That's the biggest thing of my job. And making sure that the staff feel safe and comfortable to work in various environments like during a pandemic.

During the pandemic, I was in the hospital a lot doing fit testing which is the process to make sure that somebody can wear an N95 mask. It, there really wasn't a big call for staff to be fit tested before that. Traditionally, the only time staff would wear that type of mask was for a TB patient.

And here in Lancaster County, we get one or two here and there, but the scope of the staff that needed to be fit tested, the other staff that had facial hair or that couldn't be fit tested had to be set up with a PAPR, a Powered Air Purifying Respirator. There was a lot of unknown during that time.

UPMC rocked it though, I'll tell you what. I was on many calls through that and they just, they were right on the edge. So preparing for things like that DECON, if people get exposed to something, I make sure that staff are trained for DECON so they can clean up them before they come into our hospital.

The last thing we'd want is somebody that's got something on them that's going to make us close our doors until we get it cleaned up. That's the biggest thing. Joint Commission has a lot of standards now. It used to be emergency management was part of safety. Now it's its own entity. So they have a lot of standards that have to be met.

We do a lot of exercises, drills for various things. We get everybody in on that. Communications is another thing. If the phones were to go down or, or how do we communicate with other hospitals or with the state? We have a command center here that I care for that we can do that. The other part of my job is Safety Officer.

I'm also Chair of the EOC committee. As we do rounds, we discuss safety issues, like I was saying about going into the ORs. We do every department in the hospital, do a safety tour, a few of us from the committee, different disciplines. We'll put a bunny suit on and go in and look and there's certain things that aren't allowed, storage, wiring things just anything, the dirty cleanliness is another one.

We look for those things, we write up a list, we give it to the department directors and they correct that. Also, if somebody has a question, Hey, can I do this? Can we do that? They come to me and our risk manager and we talk about it. Is that really safe? Does that meet the standard? Is it, NFPA, Joint Commission, DOH, all those people that govern us; we make sure that it's allowed and safe. And sometimes I don't make friends when somebody asks for something. But, my goal is to make sure that the hospital is as safe as possible. You nurse, everybody worry about doing your stuff and I'll make sure you have a safe place to work or at least do my best to do that.

Absolutely. Because, I think if I was a plumber and went through something like that, I'd be scared shitless. All the unknown. I made the mistake when they told me I needed bypass surgery of getting on social media, Facebook, and looking up groups to follow and the stories that I read, be them true or not, you know, you never know, just scared the crap out of me.

If half of the, what people put on there was true, we are even more blessed. You know, there were people saying, oh, I can't get in to see my cardiologist for six months. I, they kicked me out after three days. I can't get into cardiac rehab. That's another thing. Cardiac rehab. Right across the street here from the hospital. I was not a very active person before my bypass. And I was told that as soon as I'm okayed, I will be going to cardiac rehab. The nurse that runs the program was an open heart nurse from the Lancaster hospital. I've known her for a million years. And she is just awesome.

She monitors everything and asks the questions. Walter, you have any chest pain? Walter, you know, at one point, a couple of days into my cardiac rehab, I had a bout of AFib, which I had a little bit in the hospital, which they expected. I was on a pedal bike and she said, stop. And I stopped. And she said, okay, get off the bike and come over here and sit down.

I'm like, Kath, what's going on? She said, you're having a run of Afib. I said, oh, okay. Well, she said, you need to get in to see the cardiologist, and you need to see him now. This is like, 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And I knew they had hours, but you know, you don't get in that fast. She called the cardiologist's office, which was 100 yards up the road.

And they said, oh yeah, we can get him in tomorrow morning. She said no. He needs to be seen right now. Damned if she didn't get me in, they get me in. The doc saw me, gave me a script, and that was just amazing.

Host: Reflecting on his experience at UPMC, Walter expressed a profound sense of gratitude and pride. Not only as an employee, but as a patient. Reflecting on his experience at UPMC, Walter expressed a profound sense of gratitude and pride. Not only as an employee, but as a patient.

Walter Roth: Oh my God. On a scale of 1 to 10, a 48. I have friends that work in the cardiac group at Penn and there are patients that the docs won't touch over there that come to us and we make them better. There's so many different specialties in UPMC. Whatever's ailing you, there's somebody who's top notch in UPMC that you can go and you can see. And the footprint here in Lancaster County and Central PA from UPMC is growing in a very, very positive way with new specialties. It's just amazing. The OB program, the Hillman Cancer Center, Lancaster County only ever had LGHs or Penn has always been the big kid, you know, big gorilla in the room.

And I think moving forward, they're going to see that UPMC is a better choice. I'm blessed to work for UPMC and to know this stuff and to be able to have that here.

Host: When posed with the question of what he would say to his care team. Walter found himself overwhelmed with emotion.

Walter Roth: Thank you. Thank you for being so awesome and making me better and fixing me. And you are the greatest. You're heroes, but thank you. I could never repay that. We are blessed to have that team.

 Given the choice you know, here in Central PA, you have Hershey, and you have Penn, and you have us. The other places, you're treated like a number. And here, you're treated like family. And that, when you're having a bad day, you can have all the magic pills in the world, but somebody comforting you, that's what UPMC is about.

Host: As we come to the conclusion of this deeply moving episode; we've shared in Walter's journey, one marked by challenges, resilience; and the healing power of connection. Before we part ways I invite you to take a moment. If Walter's story resonated with you, if it touched a chord or sparked reflection, we encourage you to share your thoughts. Rate and review the podcast. It's a simple gesture, but one that helps us continue to bring you stories that matter. Thank you for joining us on this emotional journey, In Their Words. Until next time, take care and be well.